Tube element support



N P Y 00 E w m m M m HHHki'llllllIlIillll WT W V a, 0 5 u I 0 i 2 .Ill|!:iii...l..|.ii: 2 m4 July 26, 1932. c. A. HORN ET AL TUBE ELEMENT SUPPORT Filed Jan. 17, 1928 Patented July 26, 1932 I UNITED STATES (PATENT m me CLARENCE A. -HORN, F RAHWAYyANT) ROBERT J'.'HEITZMAN, OF UNIOiNeGITY NEW JERSEY, ASSIGNORS T0 *ARGTURUS RADIO TUBEwCOM'PANY, OF ;NEWARK',:NEW

. JERSEY, A CORPORATION OF DELAWARE TUBE ELEMENT surron'r Application filed J'anuary 17, 1928. Serial No. 247,302.

This invention relates to vacuum tubes and particularly to a means for supporting the elements of a vacuum tube.

In the ordinary construction of a vacuum tube, several supporting conductors are heated in a glass press within the tube, one of which conductors forms a means to support the upper ends of the elements of the tube in spaced relation to each other, while the lower ends of the elements are supported from the conductors adjacent the press. This construction gives rise tocertain disadvantages in the tube, one of which is that any displacement of the elements with respect to th ir original alignment in the tube caused bya sudden jaijfor instance, Wlll cause a due to the fact that the various supports are of different lengths and not in the same. plane.

It is one of the objects of thepresent invention, therefore, to provide a means to sup-,

port the elements of a vacuumtube so that displacements of the elements caused by sud:

den jars incidental to shipping and handling will not displace the elements with respect to each other.

Another object of the invention is to pro vide a means for supporting the elements of a vacuum tube which is inexpensive" and forms a'cojustruction easyto assemble with a minimum of operations. t Other objects and objectsespecially relating to economics of construction'willbe apparent as the description of the invention proceeds.

. One embodiment'of the invention has been illustrated in the accompanying drawing, in which Fig. l is an elevation partly in section of a vacuum tube embodying our invention;

Fig. 2 is a vertical section of the tube shown in Fig. 1 and taken substantially on the line 22 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a horizontal section of the tube taken substantially on the line 3-8 of Fig: 1; and

Fig. 4 is a perspective view of one of the insulating spacers used to support the ele-' ments.

"plate The cathode 19 maybe supported at 1 its upper end by a band 20 which passes "around the end of the cathode and is'welded 14' at, the opposite side thereof, A filament 23 is provided for heating the cathode 19 :l lxintowhichitissealed.' a M ;...;As far asthe above description goes, the- 100 Referring now more particularly toithe drawing, the invention is shown in connection with a four elementvacuum tube-" 10, having aglass envelope .11 and abasej 12 side of the press and extends upwardly within the'tube to a point adjacent the upper .end thereof. This conductor forms the. support for the plate 16 which is formed of a tubularshell having flanges'17 and 18 for variation of the spacing between the elements-welding together. 7 The flange 18, however,

is extended beyond the flange 17 and grooved "With'the conductor 15. A tubular cathode 19 extends concentrically within the plate 16 and is somewhat longer'than the plate so that its ends extend beyond the ends of the thereto and at its lower end bya band 21 which is also welded to the end of the oathode around which it passes. Both the bands 20 and 21 eXtcndout-wardly substantially parallel with the planeof the press and. are

' welded to a support 22 which is parallel to the support 15 and is sealed into the press and this filament is'attachedat its-lower end to the support 24' which is sealed inthepress 1st at its upper end by a spring 25 which is in turn welded to. the upper end of the sup- I port 22." The spring 25 is under tension so that the filament is always maintained straight and taut. A- grid comprising a coil of wire- 26 is'provided' around the cathode 19--andthe adjacent turns'of the coil are welded to'fa=support"27 onone side and a support 28 on the other which latter support is preferably 1 extended: down to the press elements of the tube are supported in spaced relation, but in case of sudden jars, there is nothing to prevent any one of the elements from moving with respect to the others so that the cathode for instance, might be caused to touch the grid or the filament to touch the cathode, but this possible displacement of the elements is prevented by means of insulating spacers preferably formed of mica which cooperate with the elements in the following manner: A pair of spacers 29 are provided, one at the upper end and one at the lower end of the elements. Each has a hole 30 into which the cathode may easily fit, and holes 31, 32, 33 and 34 to receive the conductors 15, 27, 28 and 22 respectively. The insulating spacers 29 may be placed adjacent the upper and lower ends of the plate and may be held in place by slightly bending the ends of the conductors as at 35 or 36, one such bend being sufficient above and below the spacers 29 to hold the same in place.

The strip 21 which is attached to the lower end of the cathode is preferably attached tangent to one side thereof as indicated in Fig. 3, so that this strip will clear the conductor 28, from which it must be kept electrically separated.

In order to space the lower end of the filament 23 from the cathode 19 we provide a quartz sleeve 30 which may be placed around the conductor 24 and extend from the press to a point up inside the cathode thereby effectively spacing the filament from the cathode and preventing a possible strain on the filament.

With the construction shown above, a sudden jar on one side of the tube might cause all of the supports 15, 24, 28 and 22 to bend at a point adjacent the press 14, but all the elements are spaced from each other at the top and bottom by the mica and quartz spacers and hence, all would move together so that there would be no danger of any two of the elements touching each other.

lVhile we have shown the invention as applied to a heater type tube, it is evident that it will be equally as efiective applied to a tube having a filamentary cathode, and although we have shown and described one embodiment of the invention, we do not desire to limit ourselves to this specific construction, but to interpret the invention broadly within the scope of the appended claims.

Having thus described our invention what we claim is:

1. In a vacuum tube, a plurality of elements, an insulating plate cooperating with the lower ends of said elements to hold the same in spaced relation from each other, an insulating plate cooperating with the upper ends of said elements to hold said elements in spaced relation from each other, a heating filament extending above said upper insulating plate and below said lower insulating plate, and means to space said filament from said other elements at the lower end thereof.

2. I11 a vacuum tube, a tubular anode, a grid, a tubular cathode, a support for said anode extending above and below the same, a support for said grid, also extending above and below the same, a pair of mica plates having holes therein corresponding in size to said supports and said cathode, one of said plates being positioned adjacent the top of the anode with said supports and said cathode extending through the openings therein, said other plate being positioned against the bottom of said anode, said supports and said cathode extending through the openings therein, and the upper and lower ends of at least one of said supports being bent at a slight angle to hold the plates in position.

3. In a vacuum tube having a plurality of elements, one of which is a filament, an insulating sleeve adapted to space the lower end of said filament from the element adjacent to it, said sleeve having a shoulder cooperating with said element to maintain said sleeve at the lower end of said filament against upward longitudinal motion, and an insulating plate adapted to space the lower ends of the other elements from each other.

4. In a vacuum tube, a plurality of elements including a filament, an insulating sleeve adapted to space the lower end of said filament from the element adjacent to it, said sleeve having a shoulder cooperating with said element to maintain said sleeve at the lower end of said filament against upward longitudinal motion, an insulating plate adapted to space the lower ends of said other elements and an insulating plate adapted to space the upper ends of said other elements.

5. In a vacuum tube, a tubular cathode, a heater filament for said cathode and separated therefrom by vacuous space and a quartz sleeve between the lower end of said filament and said cathode, said sleeve resting on the press and said sleeve having a shoulder in engagement with the end of the cathode to prevent upward longitudinal movement of the sleeve.

In testimony whereof, we aflix our signatures.

CLARENCE A. HORN. ROBERT J. HEITZMAN. 

